Paul Voakes. (CU Independent file/Lauren Walter)
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at CU will be no more.
The Board of Regents voted today 5-4 to shut down CU’s SJMC.
According to a message from SJMC Dean Paul Voakes, the school will be discontinued effective June 30.
In his letter, Dean Voakes said that while this is the end of an era, it is also the start of an exciting time for journalism at CU.
“It’s sad to see the demise of any organization we’ve known and loved for years,” Voakes said. “But today’s vote also — finally — enables us to address the underlying purpose of this year’s trying experience. The University wants to discontinue the School so that it can create a journalism/mass communication program whose innovative and interdisciplinary approaches will propel us to national leadership in media education.”
Voakes also said in the letter that the administration intends to keep the SJMC’s budget, students and faculty intact.
“The administration intends to keep our three most important resources intact – our budget, our student body and our faculty,” he said. “This will enable us to continue our educational programs with no disruption to our students’ curricula.”
This decision has come from many months of recommendations after discontinuance became a possibility back in August.
Both President Bruce Benson and Chancellor Phil DiStefano have supported discontinuance, and have also supported a Journalism PLUS program to replace the SJMC.
The Journalism PLUS program should take effect by 2012, offering students a double-major option with journalism and another major.
Sandra Fish, a journalism instructor at CU, said she hopes that something new and better for journalism education can come from this decision.
“I hope that this eliminates all the uncertainty that especially students have been experiencing this year,” Fish said. “We set aside a really great curriculum for this and that really disappoints me. I hope we can get that back in 2012. I would love it if something new and innovative came out of this; that would be wonderful.”
Contact CU Independent Dealine News Editors Isa Jones and Lindsay Wilcocks at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu and Lindsay.wilcocks@colorado.edu.
